Andy Hawley

BROOKLYN, Mich. (May 25, 2016) – Fans can win special prizes through the newly launched digital #MISfan Rewards program during the track’s FireKeepers Casino 400 weekend, June 10-12, and Pure Michigan 400 weekend, August 26-28. The #MISfan Rewards station will be located at the speedway’s Digital Drop In inside the Welcome Center in the New Holland Fan Plaza. A rewards station will also be at Faster Horses Festival, the track’s three-day country music fest, July 15-17. Fans can enter #MISfan Rewards three ways:  Online at www.MISfanRewards.com  Through the speedway’s mobile app, Discover MIS, which can be downloaded for free on Google and iTunes  In person at the #MISfan Rewards station at the Digital Drop In inside the Welcome Center on NASCAR race weekends and at Faster Horses Festival “It’s a priority for us to show our guests how important they are to us, and that we are evolving with today’s guest expectations for a digital platform that integrates our app and our website into their experience while at the track,” Sammie Lukaskiewicz, vice president of Marketing and Communications for MIS, said. “The Welcome Center has always been a wonderful place to educate our guests about MIS and NASCAR. And now…

Albion College placed four men – first-year student-athletes Richard Annorat and Jephte Jean-Claude, junior Zachary Osborne and senior Justin Meredith – on the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s list of all-Great Lakes region performers.   To be named all-region, an athlete must either be ranked in the top five of an individual event in the region according to final Track & Field Results Reporting System data or be part of a top three relay team.   Annorat, a Lely High School product from Naples, Fla., achieved distinction in the high jump, clearing 6’ 7” in the April 23 meet at Ohio Northern University. He went on to score for a third place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (15.91 seconds) and a fourth place finish in the high jump (6’ 1 ½”) in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championship.   Traverse City Central product Jean-Claude finished the season by achieving a time of 14.94 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles during the May 19 All-Great Lakes Elite Meet in Delaware, Ohio. He was the MIAA’s runner-up in the event, racing to a time of 15.72 in the final round of the league championship. He was also a…

SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The official qualifiers for the 2016 NAIA Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Championships have been announced by the national office. The 65th annual men’s and 36th annual women’s events will take place Thursday-Saturday, May 26-28 at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores, Alabama.   Spring Arbor University will have three student-athletes competing in this year’s championships in sophomore Bethany Kuenzer  pictured (Pittsford, MI / Pittsford HS), freshman Katrina Tovar (Sandusky, MI / Sandusky HS) and freshman Joshua Smith (Sterling Heights, MI / Stevenson HS). Kuenzer and Tovar both qualified in the women’s pole vault while Smith will race in the men’s 110 meter hurdles.   After coming up just short of All-American status last year, Kuenzer will have her eyes set on a top-eight finish this time around. The Pittsford, Michigan native will be making her second consecutive trip to the outdoor national championships, and third national appearance overall after qualifying for the indoor national championships earlier this year. Kuenzer currently ranks 11th in the country in the event. She cleared a career-best 11’ 11.75” (3.65m) at the Otterbein Twilight Invitational – a mark that tied the school record.   Tovar, who…

BROOKLYN, Mich. (May 19, 2016) — The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards got an early start to the racing season at Michigan International Speedway. Nearly 20 entered an open test in the Irish Hills to test the new composite body cars the series is running in 2016. The test served as the first practice day for the teams on a superspeedway in this type of car. It will make its racing debut at Pocono in June. The ARCA racing series returns to MIS on June 10 for the Corrigan Oil 200. And the drivers at MIS on Thursday were already looking forward. “The first impression is that the car drives great and it has a ton of grip so that is the most important thing,” Tom Hessert said. “It looks awesome and it will be more in-line with the other cars when we come back.” The teams conducted a three-hour session in the morning and another four-hour test session in the afternoon. Chase Briscoe, the current points leader in the series, only got four laps in during the morning session, but he was impressed. “It is definitely fast,” Briscoe said. “It has a ton of grip. I think we…